Can the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) change the outer representation?

Giving birth to all dharmas and changing all dharmas are the functions and operations of the tathāgatagarbha, because the tathāgatagarbha possesses the seeds of all dharmas, whereas the sixth and seventh consciousnesses do not possess the seeds of all dharmas and thus cannot give birth to or change all dharmas; however, they can influence the tathāgatagarbha and operate in union with it, prompting the tathāgatagarbha to give birth to and change all dharmas. Neither the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses (pañcavijñāna-sahagata-manovijñāna) nor the solitary mental consciousness can change the outer representation or the inner representation, nor can they prompt the tathāgatagarbha to change the outer and inner representations; it must be done by infusing and conditioning the manas, so that the manas prompts the tathāgatagarbha to give birth to and change the outer and inner representations.

The change of the outer representation, and even of the inner representation, is not something that any single consciousness alone can determine; rather, it is the result of the three transforming consciousnesses operating in union. When the conditions and karmic seeds mature, only when the three transforming consciousnesses operate in union can all dharmas be given birth to, and when the conditions mature, all dharmas can also be changed. But to change the outer representation, the karmic seeds must be changed, and moreover, the conditions and causes for changing the karmic seeds must also mature.

To change the outer representation—whether through a short-term rapid change or a long-term gradual change—the two transforming consciousnesses, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, must both be extremely powerful, so that the karmic seeds within the tathāgatagarbha undergo change; once the karmic seeds change, the outer representation can be changed. If the sixth and seventh consciousnesses lack power, then the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses and the manas cannot function to prompt the tathāgatagarbha to change the outer representation, and the solitary mental consciousness and the manas in a dream are even less able to change the outer representation. What can prompt the tathāgatagarbha to quickly change the outer representation must be the sixth and seventh consciousnesses in meditative concentration (samādhi); ideally, it is the solitary mental consciousness and the manas in samādhi. A scattered solitary mental consciousness, the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses, and the manas are all incapable, because they lack power.

The solitary mental consciousness in a dream can hardly prompt the tathāgatagarbha through the manas to change the outer representation, because the mind consciousness is extremely weak, or has no power at all, and there are no concrete karmic actions, so it cannot prompt the karmic seeds to undergo transformation; thus the outer representation cannot be changed. Even the wild imaginings, random thoughts, and delusive thoughts of the solitary mental consciousness while awake cannot, within a short period, prompt the tathāgatagarbha through the manas to change the outer representation, because they are scattered and powerless. However, if the solitary mental consciousness can concentrate its focus, its delusive thoughts will have the power to infuse and condition the manas, giving the manas the power of choice, prompting the tathāgatagarbha to quickly change the outer representation. Relying on the thinking of the manas and the thinking of the solitary mental consciousness, without bodily or verbal actions, the karmic seeds can also be changed, thereby changing the outer representation. Therefore, mental thought and mental action are also karmic actions, and they carry karmic retribution.